Quote Originally Posted by Edgar
Actually, salvia is not as big of a mystery as it once was. I assume you're talkin' about serotonin in that first sentence, in which case your understanding of how salvia works is incorrect. Salvinorin-a (main active ingredient in salvia divinorum) is a kappa opioid receptor agonist, meaning that it binds to the kappa opioid receptors and triggers a response in the cells that those receptors are on. Kappa opioid receptors like most if not all receptors in our bodies have corresponding naturally occuring substances (endogenous ligands) that bind to them, for Kappa opioid receptors those substances are dynorphins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_divinorum

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...medid=12192085
We know this... but that isn't what we're discussing. We're discussing the spiritual nature of Salvia and other hallucinogens. Ketamine works through chemicals and receptors and shit too, of course, but that doesn't mean it doesn't share some aspects of an NDE.